Device for dispensing a fluid substance, and more particularly melted cheese

ABSTRACT

A device for simultaneously filling, with a fluid substance and more particularly with melted cheese, a plurality of containers positioned along parallel lines, the device having a tank the bottom of which is provided with orifices the number of which being equal to the number of containers to be filled. Beneath each orifice is disposed dosing means. The orifices and the dosing means are positioned at the corners of regular polygons having their centers lying on the axis of the tank. Discharge conduits are provided at the outlets of the dosing means and are so directed as to convey the substance above the various parallel lines.

United States Patent Guyonnet I Sept. 26, 1972 [54] DEVICE FOR DISPENSING A FLUID 2,727,657 12/1955 Bagby ..141/242 X SUBSTANCE, AND MORE 2,195,441 4/1940 Bagby ..222/267 X PARTICULARLY MELTED CHEESE 3,014,624 12/1961 Shimatani et al. .....222/383 X 2,765,601 10/1956 Anderson ..222/309 X [721 Invent: m?" Rene 3,568,734 3/1971 Vadas et al ..l41/89 Chaville, France [73] Assignee: Fromageries Bel-La Vache Quit Rit, FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS Paris, France 1,071,476 3/1954 France ..l4l/242 [22] Filed: 1970 Primary Examiner-Edward J. Earls [21] Appl. No.: 94,300 Attorney-Richard Low and Murray Schaffer [57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priorlty Data A device for simultaneously filling, with a fluid sub- Dec. 4,1969 France ..694l905 Stance and more particmarly i melted cheese a plurality of containers positioned along parallel lines, [52] U.S. CI- ..I4l/242, 222/267, 222/275, the device having a tank the bottom of which is pro- 222/309 417/ 521 vided with orifices the number of which being equal to Int. Clthe number of containers to be Beneath each [58] Field of Search ..l4l/89, 181,- 183, 186, 188, orifice is disposed dosing means,

141/242; 222/148, 234, 235, 265, 267, 275, 276 283 309 383 384 340 417/517 519 The orifices and the dosing means are positioned at the corners of regular polygons having their centers lying on the axis of the tank. Discharge conduits are provided at the outlets of the dosing means and are so [56] References Clted directed as to convey the substance above the various UNITED STATES PATENTS Parallel lines- 2/1933 Vogt ..l 41/l8 6X 3 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR DISPENSING A FLUID SUBSTANCE, AND MORE PARTICULARLY MELTED CHEESE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the art of cyclically and simultaneously filling, with a fluid substance and more particularly with melted cheese, a plurality of containers positioned along parallel lines.

The invention has for its object to provide, inter alia, identical filling of the various containers and a consequent feeding thereof under strictly identical flow conditions.

The invention accordingly provides a device comprising a tank the bottom of which is formed with orifices equal in number to the number of containers to be filled simultaneously. Beneath each orifice is disposed dosing means. The orifices and the dosing means are positioned at the corners of regular polygons having their centers lying on the tank axis. Conduits are provided at the outlets of the dosing means and so directed as to convey the substance above the various parallel lines.

The description which follows with reference to the accompanying non-limitative exemplary drawings will give a clear understanding of how the invention can be carried into practice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows in side elevation a device according to the invention for dispensing melted cheese into moulds moving along four parallel lines, said elevation being taken perpendicularly to the latter;

FIG. 2 is a partial side elevation view of the device of FIG. 1, taken in section along the line IIII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a top sectional view of said device, taken along the line III-III of FIG.

F IG. 4 is a sectional underneath view of said device, taken along the line IVIV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a righthand view of the showing in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is apartial sectional view along the line VI VI of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view along the line VII- VII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII- VIII of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 9 shows the developed profiles of various cams for actuating the subject device of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION The device shown in the drawings is constituted by four distinct and associated compound mechanism, to wit a tank compound 1 a pouring and dosing compound 2, a cam-box compound 3 and a drive take-off and release compound 4. The tank compound is positioned above the pouring and dosing compound which is in turn disposed above a main frame 5 along the upper level of which moulds 6 containing preformed packagings are moved along four parallel lines and caused to stop for filling beneath the pouring and dosing compound. 7

The mechanism of the pouring and dosing latter compound is actuated by the cams of compound 3 which is positioned laterally in relation to compound 2 and which is itself located above the compound 4 fixed to the side of frame 5. In what follows, longitudinal will refer to a direction parallel to the lines of travel of the moulds and transverse to a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Similarly, rear? will refer to the side of the device where the compounds 3 and 4 are located, and front to the side opposite thereto.

The pouring and dosing compound 2 comprises a pouring unit 7 beneath which are fixed four dosing units 8 each comprising a dosing section 9 proper and, underneath the latter, a discharge section 10.

Tank compound 1 is centrally located above pouring unit 7 and comprises a tank 1 l resting thereon and having a jacket 12 for containing a heating fluid enabling the melted cheese to be maintained at the optimum pouring temperature, and a shaft 13 which is centrally located in said tank and bears, from top to bottom, a scraper l4 and a screw-type cheese conveyor 15. The shaft 13 is supported by an outrigger 16 which likewise supports the shaft drive moor 17, the lower bearing 18 of shaft 13 being housed in the center of a filter 19 carried by the tank.

Pouring unit 7 as seen in FIG. 2 includes a parallelepiped-shaped pouring body 20 through which are formed four vertical passages 21 having flared inlets communicating with corresponding outlets from tank 11, substantially at the corners of a square the length of each side of which is equal to twice the transverse spacing of moulds 6 between the tank wall and a conical central dome 22 resting on the body 20 and designed to facilitate flowing. Passages 21 communicate in pairs with two further horizontal transverse cylindrical passages of larger diameter, having fixed linings 23 and containing two rotating sleeves 24 respectively, which sleeves are formed with transverse passages 25 capable of being rotated into registry with the passages 21 (which are of the same diameter) responsively to an actuating mechanism which is contained in cam-box 3 and which is connected to the rear ends of the sleeves protruding from the pouring body 20.

Pouring unit 7 is carried between two housing-form ing lateral supports 26 which are positioned by means of centering means 27 on the longitudinal edges of frame 5 and which are restrained together with the pouring unit between two vertical flanges 28 indented at their bottoms to permit inspection of and access to the dosing units 8.

In order to permit washing of the sleeve, a water feed pipe 29 is connected to a central transverse duct 30 in body 20, (FIGS. 3 and 6) from which diverge lateral ducts 31 having ports in three annular chambers 32 which are formed on each sleeve, on either side of and between the passages 25 respectively, and from which extend discharge ducts 33 connected to external pipes 34. Throughout the remainder of the mass of body 20 are formed cavities 35 connected to a heating fluid circuit 36 for maintaining the melted cheese at the optimum pouring temperature. The sleeves can readily be removed from the pouring body by means of telescopically arranged extractors 37 (FIG. 2) containing compression springs, which extractors are fast with the front ends of the sleeves and maintain the latter in an axial location by the pressure of a clamping lid 38 fixed to front support 26.

The four dosing units 8 each comprise dosing bodies 39 which are fixed beneath pouring body 20, underneath the four passages 21 respectively.

The dosing section 9 of each unit includes a vertical passage 40 of diameter equal to that of the associated passage 21 and aligned therewith, which passage 40 converges downwardly up to an orifice 41 debouching into a large-diameter transverse horizontal cylindrical passage which is part of discharge section and is provided with a fixed lining 42.

Protruding forwardly of each dosing body 39 is a portion thereof formed with a large-diameter transverse horizontal cylindrical passage which communicates with passage 40 above and below the level at which the latter becomes converging and which contains a fixed cylinder liner 43 through which a piston 44 is axially movable.

Liners 43project at the front of the dosing body, at which end the four pistons 44 are made fast in pairs, two by two with the ends of two horizontal and longitudinal push-bars 45 both of which are fixed to a horizontal transverse central rod 46 (FIG. 4). Rod 46 extends through a spacer 47 which separates the two bars 45 and is extended by a portion 48 beyond the rear bar, in the direction of cam-box 3 and is movable to and fro responsively. to an actuating mechanism contained in said cam-box. Spacer 47 and rod portion 48 are slidable through passagesformed in two supporting blocks The reciprocal motion of pistons 44 permits the suc- I cessive drawing or sucking in of a predetermined quantity of substance into passages 40 and into liners 43,

and thereafter, after the passages 21 have been oc-' cluded by a rotation of sleeves 24, of discharging that quantity of substance through orifices 41.

The liners 42 of discharge sections 10 contain coaxial sleeves 51a and 51b which protrude from the dosing bodies 39 containing the pistons 44. The sleeves extend underneath the upper ends of the bodies 39 in the case of the two sleeves 510 located on the same side of central rod 46, and beneath the opposite end in the case of the other two sleeves 51b. Inside each sleeve are housed and fixed four half-shells 52, and through the assembly formed by the sleeve and the half-shells is provided a double-bended conduit 53 which debouches from the protruding portion of the sleeve via a tube with a lateral tip 54. It is possible for the other end of conduit 53 to be moved into registry with orifice 41 and with the corresponding orifice in liner 42 by a rotation of the sleeve 51a or 51b. The transverse offset imparted to conduit 53 by virtue of its double bend is equal to half the transverse spacing of moulds 6, and since this offset is a forward offset for the conduits of sleeves 51a and a rearward ofiset for the conduits of sleeve 51b, the four tipped tubes 54, which carry filling nozzles 55, are located in the four vertical planes containing the four lines of travel of moulds 6. Nozzles 55 are directed outwardly from the system, those of sleeves 51a to the one side and those of sleeves 51b to the other, whereby to be movable a s all distance from the surfaces of flanges 28 and permit easy observation of the filling of the moulds.

Fixed to either end of each sleeve 51a or 51b are drive caps 56, and each pair of coaxial sleeves are interconnected by means of a coupling bush 57 and are driven by a further bush 58 connected to a rotating mechanism housed in cam-box 3. interconnecting and drive bushes 57 and 58 each have two end-plates, the plates of bush 57 being angularly united by screwdriver-type (key and key way) drives with the facing sleeve caps 56, and the plates of drive bush 58 being similarly angularly united with the drive mechanism and the facing sleeve cap respectively.

In order to permit easy removal of the sleeves 51a and 51b, bushes 57 and 58 can readily be withdrawn through the provision of an internal engagement mechanism formed by two pistons 59 the protruding ends of which engage in recesses in the caps 56 and are restrained therein by compressed springs 60.

The cam-box compound 3 comprises a housing 61 in which is supported, by ball-bearings, a rotating vertical shaft 62 coplanar with rod 48 and supporting, on four hubs 63, four cams, to wit, from top to bottom, a cam 64 for actuating the sleeves 24, a cam 65 for actuating the pistons 35, a cam 66 for actuating a valve, and a cam 67 for actuating the sleeves 42.

Cams 64 and 67 each have a cylindrical skirt which is formed, by grooving in the case of cam 64 and by indentation of its upper edge in the case of cam 67, with camming tracks 68 and 69 respectively. The distances of the surfaces of the cam tracks from the axis of shaft 62 vary and which respectively guide, in the plane containing shaft 62 androd 48, horizontal-axis riders 70 and 71 respectively carried by longitudinal levers 72 and 73. Housing 61 has two vertical and longitudinal internal partition walls 74 and 75 in which (as seen in FIG. 8) are rotatable two sets of four axles 76a, 76b, 76c, 76d and 77a, 77b, 77c, 77d supporting substantially horizontal trains of gears 78a, 78b, 78c, 78d and 79a, 79b, 79c, 79d which mesh in the order of reference letters a through d for each train and are restrained axially by spacers 80. Axles 76c and 77c extend through the rear wall 74 and carry on their ends levers 72 and 73, while axles 76a, 76d and 77a, 77d extend through front partition wall and carry on their ends plates 81 and 82 which are angularly united, respectively, with the facing ends of sleeves 24 by means of intermediate discs 83 forming Oldham joints, and with the facing end-plates of drive bushes 47 by means of screwdrivertype couplings.

Gearwheel 79d carries teeth over part of its periphery only, its other part being formed in a lobe hingedly connected to a pin 84 fast with a thimble 85 into which engages, with an interposed compressed spring 86, a rod 87 having its other end hingedly connected to a clevis 88 fast with the housing, the role of this mechanism being to urge cam follower 71 against guided by a tube 96 carried in the walls 74 and 75 and the other end of which bears against the head of central rod 48. Follower 90 is urged into contact with camming track 89 by a jack 97 which is fixed to the outside of front support 26 and the ram 98 of which presses against that end of rod 48 which extends through front pushbar 45. Jack 97 is supplied through a pipe 99 connected to a compressed air inlet 100 via a slide-valve 101 which is fixed to cam-box housing 61 and fast with a valve 102 actuated by cam 66.

A mechanism is provided (FIG. 4) for in-process overall adjustment of the weight of substance drawn in by each of the four pistons 44, which mechanism includes, between jack ram 98 and central rod 48, a piston 103 having a front abutment shoulder 104 which is slidable in a bush 105 having a rear inner rim 106 which limits the stroke of piston 103 and hence of rod 48 and piston 44. Bush 105 is screwed into a shouldered ring 107 rigid with front support 26 and is formed at the rear with teeth 108 which mesh with a pinion 109 having somewhat long teeth and meshing in turn with teeth 110 formed on a shaft rotatably supported in front support 26 and an'gularly fast with an external adjustment knob l l 1.

Likewise provided is a mechanism for individually presetting, when the machine is inoperative, the weight of substance drawn 7 in by each piston 44. This mechanism includes, between piston 44 and the facing end of the associated pushbar 45, a bush 112 which screws into a housing in the piston and into which is in turn screwed a thrust pin 113 fast with the end of the pushbar, said bush being caused to protrude from liner 43 in order that it may be manually rotated to adjust the relative positions of the piston and the bar, which position is thereafter held by means of a locknut 1 14.

. Lastly, there is provided a mechanism for adjusting the limit of downward movement of the nozzles 55, which mechanism includes a positive-engagement interconnecting rod 115 similar to rod 46 and interconnected by screwdriver-type couplings between the drive cap 56 of front sleeve 51a and a drive disc 116 mounted on a shaft 117 carried by front support 26. Shaft 117 likewise carries a stroke-limiting disc 118 bearing an arm which is adapted, when the nozzle descends, to contact an eccentric disc 119 carried on a shaft which is supported by front support 26 and angularly rigid with an external adjusting knob 120. This adjustment is transmitted to sleeves 51b through a train of gear 79a through 79d, and front sleeve 51b carries a plain front cap 121.

P16. 9 illustrates the developed profiles 122, 123, 124 and 125 of the camming tracks of the four cams 65, 64, 67, and 66.

A filling cycle consists of an initial long phase during which the dosing pistons 44 draw back in order to suck in the predetermined quantity of substance (rising portion a of profile 122), while the sleeves 24 are in the open position (with the passages 25 vertical) and the nozzles 55 are raised whereby the orifices 41 are masked. This phase is followed by a second short phase during which sleeves 24 close (rising portion b of profile 123) and nozzles 55 descend (rising portion of profile 124), thereby communicating orifices 41 with conduits 53. In the course of a lengthy third phase, dosing pistons 44 move forward to eject the substance (downslope d of profile 122), while the nozzles 55 gradually rise (shallow downslope e of profile 124). The last short phase includes opening of sleeves 24 (downslope f of profile 123) with, during the initial part of the phase, rapid rising of the nozzles (sharp downslope g of profile 124) which cuts off the thread of flowing substance. The profile 1250f cam 66 includes two lands separated by a sharp rise h between the first and second phases and a sharp descent i in the middle of the last phase.

The drive take-up and release compound 4 includes a lower longitudinal shaft 126 which is driven by a motor (not shown) and which transmits the drive to a bevel coupling 127 fixed to frame 5 by a support 128 and which, via a splined coupling, drives a vertical tube 129 the end of which supports a plate 130 made angularly rigid by a screwdriver-type coupling with an intermediate plate 131 coupled to shaft 62 by a dog 132. Tube 120 carries a sliding collar 133 the motion of which is controlled by cam followers 134 supported on an articulated lever 135 actuated by a solenoid 136 fixed to the compound housing 137 and acting against a countering spring housed within tube 129. Further, hub 63 carrying cam 64 includes a cuplike portion 138 within which is mounted a freewheel 139 keyed to the end of the output shaft of a motor/reduction gear unit 140 fixed above housing 61.

Thus, under normal operating conditions, the main drive shaft 126 drives the four cams and consequently the device as a whole. In the particular case when such device is part of a complete melted cheese packaging installation the other work-positions of which are located upstream and downstream of the device, it is possible to obtain perfect synchronism of the installation if the other work-positions are also controlled by longitudinal driveshaft 126, the moulds 6 travelling along four straight parallel paths. All that is necessary in order to wash the system in situ without removing compounds 1 and 2 is to release the compound 4 by means of solenoid 136, the independent motor 140 then driving freewheel 139 in the positive direction to enable it to drive the actuating cams itself.

It is however possible, in order to avoid loss of time due to washing, to remove compounds 1 and 2 and replace them with identical compounds, such replacement being very simple by reason of the screwdrivertype couplings used.

While the above-disclosed arrangement is usable with advantage on a four-line packaging installation, it could readily be adapted to an installation with eight lines for example, by juxtaposing beside compound 2 a second identical compound which could easily be connected to the first compound by screwdriver-type couplings, interconnecting tubes and extensions of rod 48, the various adjustment mechanisms carried by the front support 26 being in that event moved to the front of the new compound. it would also be possible in such cases to use a single tank fitted with two screw-conveyors.

Though it is usable advantageously on an in-line packaging installation, the device according to this invention could be utilized with the same advantages in the case of curving but parallel mould paths.

A very important industrial application of this inven tion is represented by the pouring and dosing of melted cheese, since, in the process of packaging melted cheese in portions, about 70 percent of the cost price is represented by the cost of the cheese, which calls for the most accurate possible dosing and consequently the smallest possible differences in weight when a plurality of dosers are used simultaneously.

The subject device of this invention may nevertheless be employed for many other industrial applications with the same advantages provided that the require ment is to dose comparatively plastic fluid substances.

What i claim is: r

1.- In a device for simultaneously filling aplurality of individual containers with a fluid substance, said containers respectively positioned in a plurality of substantially parallel lines, said device comprising a tank having an'axis and a bottom provided with a plurality of orifices equal in number to the number of said containers to be filled, said orifices communicating with a plurality of vertical passages having a horizontal inlet sleeve means therein rotatable between an open and occluding position, a plurality of dosing mechanisms located below said inlet sleeve means, said dosing mechanisms each comprising a horizontal chamber containing an inlet and an outlet and a recipricable suction and discharge piston, a plurality of discharge conduits one of which is associated with the outlet of each of said dosing mechanisms and being so directed as to convey said substance above a respective one of said parallel lines, each associated discharge conduit being formed of a horizontal rotating discharge sleeve capable of registering with said its dosing mechanism outlet, the improvement wherein said vertical passages, said chambers and pistons of said dosing mechanisms and said discharge conduits are each arranged coaxially in pairs which pairs lie along axes which are parallel to each other, a pair of parallel rods disposed perpendicularly to the axes of the piston pairs, means securing one piston of each pair to either one or the other of the parallel rods, a central rod connecting said parallel rods for reciprocation, said central rod lying on an axis parallel to the'axes of said parallel pairs of piston, said horizontal inlet sleeve means comprising a single intake sleeve arranged for each pair of passages, said discharge sleeves being coupled in coaxial pairs, said central rod and said paired discharge sleeves being mutually parallel, cam means for rotating said intake sleeves and said paired discharge sleeves and for translating said central rod, said cam means being mounted on a vertical drive shaft, and include two sleeve cams having'depthwise-varying contours and a central-rod cam having a radially-varying contour, said intake sleeves and said paired discharge sleeves being angularly rigid and having levers perpendicular to said intake sleeves and discharge sleeves and carrying sleeve cam-followers which follow said depthwise-varying contours of said two sleeve cams, said central-rod having a cam-follower at one end riding on said radiallyvarying contour of said central-rod cam.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said discharge conduits are extended by vertically movable nozzles fixed to said discharge sleeves and said discharge sleeves are angularly secured to a revolving arm capable of abutting against an eccentric the position of which is adjustable to limit the downward travel of said nozzles.

3. A devlce as claimed in claim 1, wherein said central-rod cam follower is urged against said central-rod cam by a jack which acts on the other end of said central-rod,

means disposed between said central-rod and said jack for adjusting the quantity of substance discharged by said pistons, said means being formed by a member having a degree of travel in the discharge direction of said piston, limited by stop means the position of which is manually adjustable in parallel with said central-rod. 

1. In a device for simultaneously filling a plurality of individual containers with a fluid substance, said containers respectively positioned in a plurality of substantially parallel lines, said device comprising a tank having an axis and a bottom provided with a plurality of orifices equal in number to the number of said containers to be filled, said orifices communicating with a plurality of vertical passages having a horizontal inlet sleeve means therein rotatable between an open and occluding position, a plurality of dosing mechanisms located below said inlet sleeve means, said dosing mechanisms each comprising a horizontal chamber containing an inlet and an outlet and a recipricable suction and discharge piston, a plurality of discharge conduits one of which is associated with the outlet of each of said dosing mechanisms and being so directed as to convey said substance above a respective one of said parallel lines, each associated discharge conduit being formed of a horizontal rotating discharge sleeve capable of registering with said its dosing mechanism outlet, the improvement wherein said vertical passages, said chambers and pistons of said dosing mechanisms and said discharge conduits are each arranged coaxially in pairs which pairs lie along axes which are parallel to each other, a pair of parallel rods disposed perpendicularly to the axes of the piston pairs, means securing one piston of each pair to either one or the other of the parallel rods, a central rod connecting said parallel rods for reciprocation, said central rod lying on an axis parallel to the axes of said parallel pairs of piston, said horizontal inlet sleeve means comprising a single intake sleeve arranged for each pair of passages, said discharge sleeves being coupled in coaxial pairs, said central rod and said paired discharge sleeves being mutually parallel, cam means for rotating said intake sleeves and said paired discharge sleeves and for translating said central rod, said cam means being mounted on a vertical drive shaft, and include two sleeve cams having depthwise-varying contours and a central-rod cam having a radially-varying contour, said intake sleeves and said paired discharge sleeves being angularly rigid and having levers perpendicular to said intake sleeves and discharge sleeves and carrying sleeve cam-followers which follow said depthwise-varying contours of said two sleeve cams, said central-rod having a camfollower at one end riding on said radially-varying contour of said central-rod cam.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said discharge conduits are extended by vertically movable nozzles fixed to said discharge sleeves and said discharge sleeves are angularly secured to a revolving arm capable of abutting against an eccentric the position of which is adjustable to limit the downward travel of said nozzles.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said central-rod cam follower is urged against said central-rod cam by a jack which acts on the other end of said central-rod, means disposed between said central-rod and said jack for adjusting the quantity of substance discharged by said pistons, said means being formed by a member having a degree of travel in the discharge direction of said piston, limited by stop means the position of which is manually adjustable in parallel with said central-rod. 